The present invention relates to a method of thermally insulating a building. The invention also relates to a thermally insulated building structure. More specifically, it relates to a building having an insulating structure and to an insulating structure for a building.
Many existing buildings, especially older buildings, have a low level of thermal insulation that is not up to the level required for new buildings. As a result they can be thermally inefficient and wasteful of energy and/or uncomfortable for the occupants. There is therefore a general need to increase the level of thermal insulation in existing buildings, both for comfort and for energy conservation reasons.
Some existing buildings are built with cavity walls, which can be filled with an insulating material such as a foam. This can increase the level of insulation of the walls. In addition, the level of insulation in the roof space can be increased by laying a thick blanket of fibrous insulating material within the roof space. However, it is not possible to connect the insulating material within the cavity walls to the insulating layer provided in the roof space. As a result, there tends to be a gap in the insulating layer around the eaves where the walls meet the roof, through which heat can escape from the building. This therefore limits the amount by which the thermal efficiency of the building can be improved.
In buildings with solid walls insulating panels can be attached to the interior surfaces of the walls to reduce heat loss. However, in order to install these panels the building has to be emptied, causing considerable disruption to the occupants. A layer of insulating material can also be laid in the roof space. However, as described above, this also leaves a gap in the insulating layer where the walls meet the roof, which allows heat to escape from the building. There may also be gaps in the insulating layer where one wall meets another wall.
British Patent No. 2459358 describes a building structure in which the walls, the roof and the floor are constructed using trusses, which are interconnected to provide a void that extends continuously through the walls, the roof and the floor. This void is filled with an insulating material to provide an insulating layer that extends continuously through the walls, the floor and the roof. There are no gaps in this insulating material and heat leakage is therefore considerably reduced as compared to a conventional building structure. As a result, a building of this type is able to achieve a very high level of thermal insulation, which is much higher than can be achieved with most conventional building methods. However, the building structure described in GB 2459358 can only be used for new buildings.